Chinese River Valleys

Geography

Natural barriers protect from East Himalayas and Taklamakan Desert Isolation = self-sufficient

“Middle Kingdom”

Huang He (Yellow River) and Yangtze River Fertile soil called loess – blown by the winds from

deserts 10% of land is arable Flooding could be disastrous, nicknamed: “China’s

Sorrow”Fertile land support large population

FLOODING, FISHING, AND TOXIC RUNOFF

The Yellow and Yangtze Rivers Today

…?

The control of water is becoming a point of conflict between neighboring countries

SHANG

ZHOU

QIN

Early Chinese History

The Shang Dynasty

1700-1027 BCE

Big claim to fame! First rulers to leave written records

Oracle bones

Built cities of wood Wealthy within the city walls Poor outside the city walls

Constantly at war – overthrown by the Zhou (1045-256 BCE) who created the Mandate of Heaven

Oracle Bone from the Shanghai Museum

Family Religious Beliefs

People outside China = barbarians Ethnocentrism (belief that

your civilization is superior)

Loyalty to the familyFilial PietyWomen inferior

Arranged marriages 13-16Mulan - Honor

Family ancestors influenced life (+/-)

Spirits were not gods

Paid respect to spirits

Mulan - Family Spirits

Chinese Culture

Writing System

No connection between China’s spoken and written language AKA – One can read Chinese without being able to

speak a word of it People all over China could read it even if the spoken

language was very different Written language helped unify a large, diverse land

1,500 characters to be barely literate

10,000 to be a scholar

1) Traditional 2) Simplified

3) Pinyin

4)English

These have been translated to pinyin

Easy to figure out Still easy to figure out

Look what I found as a result?

And…I’m lost